Dems attack Barr's credibility after report of White House briefings on Mueller findings

Democrats are attacking Attorney General William Barr's credibility after The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Department of Justice has briefed the White House about special counsel Robert Mueller's findings.

The report, which states that the DOJ has had "numerous conversations" with the White House about Mueller's report, sparked a wave of outrage from Democrats.

"This is outrageous. The AG is supposed to be an independent beacon of truth and justice," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chair of the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, tweeted in response to the report.

"Instead, Barr is debasing the rule of law, degrading our democratic institutions, and decimating any trust the American people have left in this Administration."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he was "deeply troubled" by the report.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) also blasted the Times report, along with DOJ's decision to not hand over the report to Congress until after Barr holds a press conference on Thursday morning.

"This is not justice. This is PR," Schiff tweeted.

And Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Barr has "thrown out his credibility & the DOJ's independence with his single-minded effort to protect [Trump] above all else."

This isn't the first time that Democrats have questioned Barr's credibility. Some opposed his nomination as attorney general after it was revealed that he had sent an unsolicited memo to DOJ criticizing Mueller's obstruction of justice probe.

And Democrats were up in arms last week after Barr said during congressional testimony that he believed there was "spying" on the Trump campaign in 2016. He later said that he wanted to review if there was any improper surveillance on the campaign.

Other congressional Democrats have been quick to join in the criticism of Barr.

Barr will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday on the release of the Mueller report.

The document is expected to be heavily redacted, after Barr said he would not include certain information like grand jury material in the public version of the document.

But federal prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday that DOJ intends to make a version of the report without certain redactions available to select members of Congress.